An exceptional bank outage will affect up to millions of Finns over the weekend

in Finland we will see an exceptionally large operation in the banking industry this weekend, when Handelsbanken’s customers will become S-bank’s customers.

With the acquisition, which has already been prepared for a year and a half, approximately 100,000 personal customers and 230 employees will transfer from Handelsbanken to S-Bank.

The companies have said that the arrangement is one of the largest banking industry integrations in Finland.

S-bank for current customers, the realization of the acquisition is mostly visible on Sunday, when S-bank’s online services are down from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m., i.e. from four in the morning to four in the afternoon.

Coaching manager of S-bank’s day-to-day banking and everyday finances Emilia Simola confirms that during that time, identification with e.g. online banking credentials or the S-mobile application or e.g. confirmation of online payments will not be possible.

For those shopping online during the Black Friday discount sales, this issue can be particularly relevant.

“Those late-night online purchases cannot be confirmed with our services,” says Simola.

However, with S-bank’s cards or mobile payment wallets, you can pay normally at payment terminals even during the outage.

The outage affects approximately 2.6 million S-bank’s bank customers who use the company’s online banking credentials or mobile application. Of course, many Finns may also use the services of other banks, which are not affected by the outage.

Bigger ones the change has effects on Handelsbanken customers who become S-bank customers. In S-bank, the interruption of online services is only visible on Sunday, but Handelsbanken’s customers are already affected on Friday.

According to Handelsbanken, account transfers and payments can no longer be made after 19:00 on Friday. At the same time, Handelsbanken’s mobile bank will also be closed permanently. The old bank and credit cards of customers switching to S-bank will be closed on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Invoices displayed in Handelsbanken’s services must be approved before the Friday evening deadline if you want them to be paid normally.

commercial bank customers’ accounts, loans, funds and asset management contracts will be transferred to S-bank on the first day of December.

However, for example, account numbers and account transactions or online banking IDs will not be transferred to the new bank’s systems.

The same applies to e-invoices ordered through Handelsbanken or old payment forms made by yourself. This could be, for example, a recurring payment made to pay the rent.

“New payment templates can be created in the online bank or S-mobile. This is also a good moment to get rid of old payment methods, so I would also see a great opportunity to clean up the online bank here,” says Simola.

Customers’ debit bank cards will also be new, and will be replaced by S-bank’s cards. At the same time, of course, the card number and identification number also change.

According to Simola, the new debit cards should have already arrived for future customers.

“Customers have also received information about their new account numbers. S-bank’s customer service staff can see what Handelsbanken’s account number has been. If the customer is wondering what an account is, we are able to help the customer.”

It was possible to prepare for many other changes in advance. According to Simola, many have, for example, already downloaded the S-bank application or joined as customer owners as the change approaches. It was also possible to apply for a credit card through S-bank in advance.

“Quite normal Finnish behavior, that compulsion is the best motivator,” Simola laughs.

Business transaction has been prepared for a long time. The Swedish Handelsbanken announced that it will withdraw from Finland as early as October 2021.

In May 2023, it was reported that the bank’s personal customer business as well as asset management and investment service operations will be sold to S-bank and the life insurance business to Henki-Fenia.

The insurance contracts of Handelsbanken’s insurance customers, such as loan guarantees or pension and investment insurances, will be automatically transferred to Henki-Fenia this coming weekend.

So the weekend move has been planned for a year and a half already.

Simola says that so far the preparation for the change has gone well, and everything looks fine at the moment.

“We have a lot of people at work, and service hours have been extended. Also, the personnel who are transferring are already preparing during the weekend for us to be ready on Monday.”

At the same time, he encourages customers to be attentive. A large customer transition is also a favorable time for fraudsters.

“Phishing is generally aimed at bank customers, but we are certainly the object of special interest these days. We urge our current and future customers to be especially vigilant.”